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Monumenta exhibit goes minimalist

PARIS (AP) — Art lovers should expect the unexpected in the latest offering of the ground-breaking and normally roof-scraping Monumenta exhibit, as artist Daniel Buren brings the Grand Palais' lofty ceiling for the first time — literally — down to earth.

Contemporary artist Daniel Buren poses in the Grand Palais during the opening of ground-breaking Monumenta exhibit in Paris, Wednesday May 9, 2012. Monumenta, the hugely-popular annual installation project that's in its fifth year, dares an artist of international statue to "move into" the nave of one of the French capital's most monumentus buildings, and own it. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)

Monumenta, the hugely-mediatized annual art project that's in its fifth year dares an artist of international stature to "move into" the nave of one of the French capital's most monumental buildings, and own it.

In a testament to the show's importance, French President-elect Francois Hollande dropped in Wednesday — a day before the opening to the public — for his first cultural event since winning Sunday's election.

Last year's leviathan-shaped gargantua by British artist Anish Kapoor is a hard act to follow, scraping the nave's ceiling, and attracting more than 270,000 people in six and a half weeks.

But as ever, Buren, who won 2007's "Praemium Imperiale" award, akin to the Nobel Prize for art, thinks outside the box.

The central part directly underneath the nave is empty, save for 9 circular mirrors on the floor, shining up.

At first look, it seems as if Buren has failed his Monumenta homework — to fill the space.

But think again: what's the medium that fills not only the Grand Palais, but every interior ever seen?

In a word: light.

"The spirit of this place is sun, is light, which cuts through the color in the circles ... You need to feel for the space you're in ... The Grand Palais with the glass ceiling has such beautiful light, all the time — even on a rainy day," Buren told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

Visitors were seen exploring furtively under the rainbow-dappled disks that stand uniformly at 2.5 meters (eight feet) high across the expanse, some in awe and others in confusion.

There was a gasp as the morning's first ray of sunlight shone through the building's roof.

"Wow. That's the moment I only understood it, when the sunlight came through the ceiling and hit the disks and shone of the floor: that's the beautiful part with colors everywhere, when everything came together perfectly," said Nina Aelbers, 27.

Others could only describe their reaction to the work in metaphor: one viewer at a loss for words, Roberta Prevost, called the second roof a "shimmering rug or multicolored tapestry."

Art critic Joost de Geest summed it up best: "Buren's art is never immediately accessible, visible. You need to stroll around to feel it. The colored circles are very light, joyous, agreeable, but you need to discover them first. Imagine this — you can walk comfortably around the Grand Palais for the first time! I like that it's on a small scale."